


Scarred

by StreetSoldierin



Series: Draco and his scars [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Abusive Lucius Malfoy, Astoria is dead, Bonding, Canon Compliant, Character Growth, Cinnamon Roll Scorpius Malfoy, Draco aged well, Draco remembers his past, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Father-Son Relationship, Implied Drarry, One Shot, Past Child Abuse, Scars, and now I'm posting instead of being in bed, but Draco loved her, god i need sleep, he and Scorpius are father-son goals, i wrote this like three years ago, self-aware Draco, unlike his mental state
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-24
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-10-27 16:49:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20763689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StreetSoldierin/pseuds/StreetSoldierin
Summary: Scorpius sees his father cry for the first time, and Draco tells him about his scars.





	Scarred

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of a few fics I found lying around and would rather have it bring people some joy instead of just rotting away.  
Therefore this is not beta-read or anything.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Scorpius had never seen his father cry before. Not even at his mother’s funeral had he shed a single tear, not because he didn’t care, oh no, but Scorpius knew his father just wouldn’t let people know how broken up he was on the inside. He probably had cried when he was alone, but never in front of his son. 

So it was indeed a surprise when Scorpius came home and found his father on the bathroom floor, sobbing. “Dad!” he exclaimed with fright. “Dad, what’s wrong?” Draco looked up in horror, apparently he hadn’t heard Scorpius coming in. “Oh by Merlin,” he murmured and wiped at his face frantically. “It’s nothing, Scorpius, I’m sorry. You weren’t supposed to see this.” 

It was only then that Scorpius noticed that his father didn’t wear a shirt. He had never seen his father shirtless, never, and now he began to understand why. Draco’s torso was covered in scars, pink and red lines all over the smooth bright skin. “Dad…” Draco sighed and got back to his feet, reaching for the white button-down shirt that hung over the sink, but Scorpius’ hand shot out and stopped him. “No, don’t.” 

Draco met his gaze and Scorpius’ recognized something in his father’s eyes; a dark, tortured expression. “Please, Dad, tell me.”   
“Tell you what?” he asked softly, but didn’t even wait for an answer but took Scorpius’ hand and led him to the living room instead. 

Even after having lived here for sixteen years, Scorpius still thought Malfoy Manor to be ridiculously large. This particular living room had about the size of a gym, and the high ceilings always made Scorpius wonder how on earth this could be a three leveled-building. Well, it did look large from the outside too, but not that large. 

Draco led his son to the two dark green armchairs which stood by the fire place. He snapped his fingers and immediately there was a fire crackling and shining its warm light upon the two of them. They sat down, facing each other. “So,” Draco asked rather calm, but Scorpius could tell that he still was upset because of the way he ran his fingers through his blond hair. “Which one do you want to know first?” 

Scorpius let his eyes roam over his father’s torso, a bit shy at first because he didn’t want to make him even more uncomfortable. Draco looked very well for his age, even at 42 people still guessed that he was in his late twenties. Astoria, Scorpius’ mother, sometimes had joked about Draco being so proud that he had jinxed himself to look young forever, but of course that had just been teasing. It was funny sometimes though when people thought Draco and Scorpius’ would be brothers. Whenever that happened, Draco would address Scorpius as “bro” for the rest of the day. 

Scorpius couldn’t choose a scar at first. There were just so many that it was a bit overwhelming. But then he finally pointed on a reddish line at Draco’s chest. “Where’s that one from?” Draco looked down and thoughtfully lifted his hand to touch the scar. 

“For that one I have Potter to thank for.”   
“Harry Potter?” Scorpius exclaimed in disbelief. “Albus’ father? I mean, I knew you were like enemies or something, but mom always said…”   
“I know what Astoria told you”, Draco interrupted gently. “But while it crossed both Potter’s and my mind, it was never destined to happen and so it never did. I was very happy with your mother.”   
“But still, why would he hurt you like that then? I mean, that is not a light scar, it looks like it had been a pretty bad injury to be honest.” 

Draco sighed. “Yeah, actually it was. It happened in the heat of the moment, we were both on edge. I did some terrible things that made him angry and we both lost our calm and started a fight. Potter casted a curse of which he didn’t know the consequences of. You see, there isn’t just one of those, they all belong together.” He pointed at several scars across his torso, which terrified Scorpius even more. He hadn’t thought Albus’ father would be able to do something like this. “What kind of spell was that?” he whispered. 

“None you need to worry about”, Draco replied softly. “It tore up those wounds, but luckily Snape appeared shortly after and closed them up. It hurt like hell, but it was over really quick.”   
“And you forgave Harry? You forgave him even though he basically sliced you up?” 

His father sighed. “Scorpius, those were different times. After the war I was in no place to forgive anyone, really. He forgave me, as a matter of fact.”   
“But that’s not right!” Scorpius exclaimed and felt that his hands had clenched into fists. “He hurt you! They always just talk about how you were the bad one, but they never mention what he actually did to you!”   
Draco raised an eyebrow at his son. “’They’? Scorpius, you really must not listen to the chatter and gossip people spread.”   
“But it really isn’t fair,” Scorpius argued. “They always act as if they knew everything, as if they were there when everything happened. I am sick of it, Dad, I’m so sick of how people talk about us.”   
Sighing, Draco reached out to Scorpius and took his hand. “Don’t let that get to you, son. People always talk, and they also will always find someone to put the blame on. They love to chatter and after all I did, they somewhat have the right to do so. Harry Potter is their hero, and ruining that would destroy so much.” 

“So you basically sacrifice your reputation for his sake?” Scorpius still couldn’t believe it. But his father shook his head. “Not really for his sake, no. It’s for what people call “the greater good”. We all want peaceful times, and that won’t work if the wizarding world’s hero would turn out not to be so perfect after all. Imagine what that would do to the public.”   
“It’s still not fair,” Scorpius murmured and Draco smiled at him softly. “No it’s not, but that’s okay as long as you ignore people. I am sorry that you feel the impact of all this, because you did nothing wrong. But I am optimistic that people will see that you are not in any way responsible for my actions.” He let go of Scorpius’ hand and leaned back. “Choose another.” 

Scorpius pointed at a scar on his father’s ribs. “That one.” Draco turned sideways so Scorpius could see that what he had thought to be a rather short scar was in fact a long one that ran halfway across Draco’s back. “Actually, your grandfather is responsible for that one.” 

He turned back again so he could face his son and Scorpius could see the pain in the bright blue eyes that resembled his own. Draco continued, “I wanted to wait with this story until you were old enough, but then there was never a right occasion, so I guess now is the time to tell you. Of course you heard a lot about my father and you know that he was a Death Eater as well. We never got along very well.” 

“He gave you that scar?” Scorpius asked with wide eyes. He had never met his grandfather because he lived far away and his father hadn’t wanted them to meet, but Scorpius never knew that Lucius had hurt his father like that. 

But Draco nodded. “Yeah, he did. My mother often tried to stop him, but she wasn’t always successful. When I was younger I didn’t know that it was wrong, and I loved my father. In some strange way I still do. But the older I got the more I realized that it wasn’t normal how he treated me, that it was not common to punish a child like that. When I got to Hogwarts I saw other wizard families for the first time and I saw how lovingly some parents treated their children and I realized how wrong it was what my father was doing. But my parents were all I had and my father made damn sure that I obeyed. I was too scared to rebel, and that’s how I ended up fighting for the wrong side. I wanted to believe that what I was doing was right, but deep down I had always known that it was wrong.” 

“I never knew that he was like that,” Scorpius whispered. “I thought you had a bad relationship but I never knew he hurt you.”   
Draco chuckled, but it didn’t sound very happy. “Nobody knows, Scorpius, I kept it a secret.”   
“But maybe people would understand better if they knew.”   
“Probably, but I am still responsible for my actions. I could’ve run away or rebelled or something after all.”   
“You were scared,” Scorpius argued and Draco nodded. “Yeah, but people won’t understand. Believe me, son, it’s better if they don’t know. If they did, nothing would change really. They’d just have another reason to gossip. Look, Scorpius, the thing is that you want people to see me as the man I am today. But all they ever heard of was the boy I was before and you didn’t know that boy, I am really glad about that. I wasn’t a good person. In fact, I was terrible. And I know that I’ve changed, but that doesn’t erase the bad things I did.” 

For a few seconds Scorpius didn’t know what to say. Then he whispered quietly: “I don’t care about what you did in the past, Dad. You changed, and that is what matters.”   
Draco smiled and for a moment Scorpius thought to see something wet glittering in his father’s eyes. “Thank you, son. That really means a lot to me.” 

Then there was a silence, but a rather comfortable one. The fire crackled in the fire place and everything just felt at peace. Then Draco said, “So, do you want to hear the rest of the stories?” Scorpius nodded. “Yes, please.” 

And then Draco told him all about the other scars and how he got them. He told him about his father’s punishments (not all of them inflicted by magic) and about scars he had gotten during the war. He told him about the times the Dark Lord himself and his entourage had stayed at this house and how the Death Eaters liked to practice spells on Draco. Then he pointed at his Dark Mark on his forearm. It was faded, but still visible. “I consider this a scar too,” he said. “And honestly, it’s the worst of them all.” 

After he had finished he attempted to put on his button-down shirt, but Scorpius stopped him. “Wait, you haven’t told me about that one!” He pointed at a small scar right beneath Draco’s rib cage. Draco looked down and then a smile spread across his face. “You really want to know about that one?” he chuckled. 

“Yeah!” said Scorpius. “Okay,” his father replied. “But give me a hug first.” He stood up and wrapped his son in his arms and Scorpius did the same. “I am very proud of you, son”, Draco whispered. “And your mother is too, I’m sure of that. You are an amazing boy and I love you very much.” Scorpius tightened his arms around his father’s waist. “I love you too, dad.” 

For some time they just stood there, holding each other. Scorpius closed his eyes, this just felt right. He felt protected and safe and he made a promise to himself that from now on he’d ignore people’s gossip. His father was a good man and all that mattered was that he knew. 

“So,” Draco said when they finally let go of each other. “That scar, huh? Promise me you won’t tell anyone about it?”   
“Pinky promise,” Scorpius replied grinning.   
“Okay then,” Draco chuckled. “Your mom gave me that scar when I proposed to her.” 

“What?” Scorpius exclaimed and Draco nodded. “Yeah. She thought it was a joke and kicked me right in the chest with her high heels. Boy, was I glad that I chose to propose to her in private. I think it would’ve been a lot more embarrassing in public.” 

“She kicked you… you proposed to her, and she kicked you?” Scorpius repeated and now he had to laugh to. “Yeah, that really sounds like mom.” 

“Exactly the reason why I wanted to marry her.”

**Author's Note:**

> Leaving kudos and/or comments will literally make my day!  
Thanks xx


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